1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a glove transferring technology, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for transferring gloves from a conveyor to a workstation.
2. Description of Related Arts
Rubber gloves manufacturing and processing technology has been around since decades ago. Post manufacturing processing such as quality inspection is often needed for newly synthesised gloves and used gloves collected for reprocessing. This process involves mounting the gloves to a holding means which is moved by a conveyor means for undergoing a series of stages, for example, inflation leakage test and sterilization.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,383 disclosed an apparatus for inspecting gloves to filter out the defective gloves. The apparatus includes a mounting member on a conveyor mechanism for holding the gloves. Further processing of the gloves then includes inflation, light screen inspection, and defective glove removal. However, the document does not disclose the method of transferring of the glove from a conveyor to the mounting member.
Malaysian Patent Application No. PI 20083650 disclosed a system for processing reusable gloves. The process also involves mounting the gloves to an engaging means that hold the gloves and moves through a series of processing stations. Similarly, this cited document discloses the mounting of the gloves to the engaging means by manually stretching the glove cuffs to the engaging means. The manual transferring of gloves to the workstations would involve a considerable labour cost.
Prior arts exist that describes automated transfer of articles between workstations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,264 disclosed an apparatus for transferring an article using a robot system with a gripper assembly. The system also includes a visual inspection system for determining location of the article and directing the robotic arm to pick up the article. However, the system disclosed is not suitable for transferring a flexible article such as a rubber glove because the robotic arm would not be efficient in gripping the glove. Furthermore, gripping the glove at simply any part of the glove would not enable subsequent transferring of the glove to a holding or engaging means of a workstation.
Accordingly, it can be seen in the prior arts that there exists a need to provide a an apparatus and method for transferring gloves from a conveyor means to a working station which is fully automated and specifically suited for gripping and holding gloves.